Holding on for dear life
by Beverley999
Summary: How he became entangled in the extraordinary life of Freya Williams, the 12th Doctor will never know. But when the young woman stumbles into his life he can't keep away. A girl who possesses an incredible gift, has been running from aliens for most of her life and is stronger than anyone he's ever known. He couldn't possibly keep away.


**I felt like doing something a little different to how I usually write and came up with this! I wanted to have the Doctor sort of popping in and out of someone's life over a year period or so. ****It features the 12th Doctor and my O/C Freya. ****This one-shot is quite angsty and long so apologies for that but it was really fun writing it! **

**Let me know what you think!**

**Update: I wasn't going to expand on this story originally but now I've decided to make this into a collection of drabbles and one shots. I've got some ideas but I'd also love some prompts!**

**March**

For the third time that week, Freya Williams was running for her life. Her bare feet battered the pavement painfully, her breaths came in weak gasps, her stomach twisted anxiously, pulling itself into tight knots and bundles. She glanced over her shoulder, wishing instantly that she hadn't done so. They were gaining on her. Thankfully they were different from the rest. She'd grown quite tired of the strange looking blue men claiming they were from a planet called Niberon, and of the small fairy like creatures who snuck under her bed and tried desperately on several occasions to drag it out of the room with her still in it. No, it was definitely nice to see some new faces. Even if they were hairy, wide and stuffed full of razor sharp teeth.

Freya made a sudden left, skidding painfully into a collection of dustbins as she turned into an alleyway she used to play down as a child. She ran to the fence at the end separating the alley from the park behind it and began to scale it expertly, her nimble hands and torn up feet pulling her up and over until she was safely on the other side.

'Ha!' she yelled, brushing off her hands, glaring into the darkness of the alley. She sounded a lot braver than she felt but as the seconds ticked by, her calm facade dissolved slowly into fear once more. There were a few painful moments of absolute silence. There were no cars in the distance, no sounds of the students who lived in this area playing loud, unbearable chart music and definitely no sound of the monsters who'd been chasing her only moments before. She crept closer towards the fence, squinting into the distance, wondering if they'd finally given up the chase. She had a flashback to a horror film she'd seen a few weeks ago of a similar situation and how she'd screamed at the woman to run away from the monsters, not get closer to them. Freya was just thinking she should probably follow that advice when suddenly, a huge, wild creature came bursting through the fence, arms flailing, claws clicking and snarling with a vengeance.

'Bloody hell!' Freya cried automatically, stumbling backwards. The creature pounced for her and missed by an inch, just managing to slice a thick claw across her back. She cried out, gritting her teeth against the pain and carried on running, through the park and back out into the street, thanking her mother for her small and able frame.

She appeared on a main road; surely there would be someone around who'd see she was in trouble? Although, she very much doubted anyone would want to lend a hand when they caught sight of what she was running from. She glanced back over her shoulder once more and then ran straight into something incredibly hard. She spun around, winded and stumbled to a halt, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be running for her life. A tall, grey – haired figure in a dark jacket and hoodie stood in front of her, undoubtedly unimpressed at being run into. He grabbed her quickly by the arm. She winced and pulled her arm back sharply, ignoring the dull throb spreading through her wrist and fingers. The man raised a furious eyebrow at her and then, caught sight of something far more interesting behind her. Freya shuddered. She could feel the monsters wheezing down the back of her neck, she could anticipate the feel of their claws as they ripped her open and pulled various bits of her body out for dinner. The man grabbed her arm again, gently this time, and directed her around behind him. Then he pulled something out of his pocket. He waved an odd looking ball in one hand, catching the attention of the smallest monster at the front. It clicked its claws together curiously, moving forwards.

'That's it,' the man said encouragingly. He had a pleasant Scottish lilt to his voice. 'Stupid monster, come here. You like the ball?' The monster reached out a tentative paw and gave the ball a quick pat. Once satisfied it wasn't going to hit it back, the monster dived forwards, swatting the ball out of the stranger's hand. In an instant however, the ball erupted in a cloud of dark, grey smoke, swirling around the three monsters, encasing them in a suffocating cloud. Freya could hear them coughing and spluttering, whining as they dissolved into nothing but 18 bone white, and very sharp, claws. The man brushed his hands on his coat, then bent down, picked up the ball and packed it back into his pocket. Satisfied, he turned to Freya.

'Who are you?' he demanded.

Freya was still staring at the empty spot where the three monsters had just been, trying to comprehend how such a tiny little ball had manage to evaporate them into nothing. The man reached out and clicked in front of her face. She blinked, startled.

'Freya,' she replied eventually. 'I'm Freya.'

'What happened to your arms,' the man said, eyebrows drawn into a hard line. Pulling herself together, Freya looked down at the exposed skin of her arms, then pulled them down by her side quickly. She tried to cover her wince as her shoulder gave a painful twinge.

'Nothing, she said.

'They're all bruised.'

'People get bruises,' she said defensively.

'Where are your clothes?'

'I was in a rush,' Freya answered, suddenly painfully aware that her nightshirt was the only thing she had on. ' I didn't have time to get dressed.'

'Why aren't you wearing any shoes?'

'I threw them away. They were slowing me down.'

The man stared at her dumbfounded, then ran his hands through his already ruffled hair. He waved a hand around dismissively. 'You know what, I don't even want to know.'

'I wasn't going to explain either, so we're both happy,' Freya said. She laughed, twinging her shoulder again. She reached up to grab it, screwing up her face slightly. Ah, shoot.' She winced again, gritting her teeth. 'Look, I'm really sorry about what's going to happen next. Please don't run away screaming or something. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise.'

'Not going to hurt me - ' The man shook his head, baffled. 'What are you talking - '

He didn't get to finish his sentence. Out of nowhere, a dull orange glow began to emit from the palm of Freya's hand. It encased her wrist, snaking its way up to her shoulder and across her back, smothering it with light as it worked, healing the damage that had been inflicted beneath the skin. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the light vanished, seeping gradually back down her arm and into the palm of her hand where it disappeared into nothing. Freya gave her arm a quick shake and cracked her knuckles loudly, trying to erase the pins and needles shooting along her shoulder blade.

'Sorry. Those claws really hurt,' she said, watching the man carefully. 'I didn't mean to freak you out.' The man said nothing. Instead he just gaped at her, his eyebrows twitching frantically as he tried to process what had happened.

'Uh, I'll just be leaving now, then. Thanks for the help and everything.'

She turned to go but she felt a hand grasp her bicep, holding her still. The man was staring at her with huge, unbelieving eyes. He froze for a moment, one hand on her arm the other hanging limply by his side as though he couldn't decide what to do with it. Then, he started scrabbling desperately in his jacket pocket for something.

'Did you just _heal _yourself? How did you do that?' he demanded, pulling out a strange, torch like device that whirred and beeped nosily as he began configuring settings. He pointed it at her, moving it slowly up and down her body like a metal detector. 'That's incredible – how did you _do _that? You're human!' He flicked open his device and began reading it intently, his face screwed up into a ball of frustration. 'This is amazing – you're human, 100% biologically human, from this time, this dimension, and this universe and yet you can do something your race should never, _ever _be able to do.' He grinned broadly, his eyebrows scooting almost to his hairline. He tapped the weird device against her shoulder. 'And yet here you are…Have you always been able to do that?'

'Since I was a girl,' Freya told him, batting away his torch shaped tool.

'Do you realise you're giving off immense power surges when you do that?' the man said, gazing back into his sonic screwdriver again, as though this had only just occurred to him. 'Those surges are big enough to reach all the way to the edge of the galaxy!' His eyes grew wide again in realisation. 'Those big things with the teeth, I bet that's what they were after,' he said, clapping his hands together. 'They're after you. Has _that _happened before? Has anyone tried to attack you before?'

Freya fell very quiet for a moment. She felt the colour slip from her face and she looked down at her feet quickly, trying not to let it show. 'Yeah,' she said. 'It's a weekly occurrence. Three times this week - I'm getting a little tired of it actually.'

'And you didn't find that suspicious?' the man asked.

'Of course I did, but who the hell was I supposed to tell? 'Oh officer, by the way, there's some weird looking creatures who I think might be aliens who are following me and trying to take my ability to heal.' I'm sure that would go down really well with the police.'

The Doctor cocked his head to the side. 'Fair enough.'

'I just fend them off as best I can. I've, uh, had to move in with my boyfriend as they've burnt down my last two flats. The police are starting to think I'm an arsonist. And my boyfriend isn't the most understanding person.'

'I can imagine. What a tragedy that his girlfriend has had to move in with him. God forbid!' the man mocked. Freya gave a small grin, not quite meeting his eye again.

'Yeah,' she said quickly. 'Look, I'm sure you've got a lot to do and I'd better be going home. It's getting late.'

'You can't just go,' the man said, grabbing hold of her arm again. 'This is massive! We need a plan!'

Freya pulled her arm out of the mans grasp and folded it securely across her chest. This man was far too grabby for her liking.

'Who are you?' she asked carefully.

'I'm the Doctor – also an alien but I'm one of the nice ones,' he said. 'Mostly.'

'Well I suppose I'll have to take your word for that,' Freya said. 'Although you've managed to hold a conversation with me without trying to rip my head off, so that's a nice change.' She smiled awkwardly but the Doctor's face stayed hard as he regarded her carefully for a few moments.

'You seem quite relaxed about all of this. You do realise these aliens are trying to _kill _you?'

'I'm aware of that, thanks,' Freya said. 'I've survived fine on my own for years, I think I'll be okay.'

'This has been going on for years?' The Doctor said, shocked. He ran a hand through his hair, wildly. 'No wonder these aliens keep coming after you. If every time you heal yourself you send a massive power surge through the galaxy there could be hundreds of different species who've received that message. And they'll all want to get a bit of you.' He turned on the spot, caught up in his reverie. 'That could be catastrophic. Who knows what they would do with that power. If it fell into the wrong hands… I dread to think.' He turned back to face her. 'No – I'm sorry. Aliens are attacking you on a weekly basis. I can't just leave. They could be causing all kinds of havoc with the time rift, let alone the galaxy, and who knows what will happen if they manage to drag you back to one of their home planets. I need to keep an eye on all of this.'

Freya stared at him, dumbstruck. 'Well you can't come home with me,' she said.

'Don't be stupid,' he said. 'I'm just going to drop in every now and then, check you haven't been offed by an alien race yet and make sure nothing bad is happening to the planet. I can keep them at bay for a little while, chase off the ones which manage to slip past me. What do you say? You can't turn down an offer like that.'

**June**

Freya flung open the door, ready to unleash hell on whoever it was knocking at this time in the morning, but the sight that greeted her was one she was absolutely not expecting. She stared uncomprehendingly at the visitor for a few moments, unable to speak. The Doctor.

'What are you doing?' The Doctor said quickly, looking at Freya with a raised eyebrow. 'What are you wearing? You look ridiculous.'

'It's the middle of the night,' Freya whispered furiously as she remembered how to lace words together. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to cover the garish reindeer print of her onesie.

'It's not even Christmas,' the Doctor went on, looking increasingly baffled by the concept. 'How do you pee in that thing?'

Freya grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, sparing a quick glance towards Mrs Knowelsburys curtain which thankfully, wasn't being hastily pulled aside like normal - even at this hour. Freya shut the door behind them, directing the Doctor into the lounge.

'What are you doing here in the middle of the night?' she demanded.

The Doctor was quiet for some time before shaking his head and saying 'No, I'm sorry, I can't take you seriously in that thing. You need to take it off.'

'You can't be here,' Freya whispered, glancing over her shoulder. The Doctor's bemused look immediately fell from his face. His jaw worked on empty words for a few moments, opening and closing as though there were a hundred things he wanted to say but thought better of each time.

'We're in trouble,' he said eventually.

Freya shook her head. 'I'm sorry? Trouble?'

The Doctor looked behind him nervously as though waiting for something to pounce through the window.

'You're frightened,' Freya realised.

'I'm not frightened,' the Doctor snapped. 'Worried,' he admitted. 'Apprehensive, maybe, anxious, unnerved -'

'Alright, I've got it -'

' - but not frightened,' he finished. 'Because this is far worse than being frightened, Freya. Far, far worse. Fear alone won't save us.'

'Okay, if you've come here just to scare the crap out of me then you're doing a good job,' Freya said angrily.

'Good!' the Doctor said, rushing forwards and taking her by the arms. 'Good, it's good to be scared - you're going to need that adrennaline.'  
Freya's face fell into another frown. '...why?'

The Doctor looked at his watch, dropped Freya's arms and ran over to the curtains. He pulled them open roughly and even from behind him, Freya knew his eyebrows had rocketed up to his hairline. He turned around slowly, looking at the ground.

'What have you done?'

''For once it's not actually anything that I've done,' the Doctor said, giving Freya a pained grin. 'Remember that interesting little gift you have? Someone knows about it.'

'That's not unusual,' Freya said shrugging. 'How many different species have you chased off in the last few months?'

'This is different.' The Doctor was shaking his head. 'This is worse, far worse. Word must have spread through the galaxies that there's a human on Earth who has the ability to heal things. There's an entire alien fleet hovering on the outskirts of the universe looking for you.'

'Right...' Freya said slowly, struggling to comprehend this. 'Which means...?'

'Which means that they're going to be trying awfully hard to get to you. You're unique - there's nobody else out there who can do what you can. The others were harmless really – a pain in the backside trying to keep them away from you but this fleet…they'll stop at nothing. We can't let them find you.'

'What will happen if they do?'

'They will take it from you,' the Doctor said. 'This gift is part of you. It's encoded into your DNA. If they remove it… they will take everything you are. Your essence, your being. Do you understand how important it is – you have to hold onto this with everything you have.'

'Can they use it, if they take it from me?'

The Doctor stepped back, looking at her as though she was an idiot. 'Of course they can,' he said. 'What do you think they would do with a power like that? Store it in a glass case and stare at it for a while? They'd weaponise it. They'd be unstoppable.'

'Doesn't that worry you?' Freya asked.

'No,' the Doctor said simply. 'I can fight off armies in my sleep. I've done it a thousand times. I am the man that armies run away from. But I can't save you. If they take it from you, that's it.' He looked away for a few moments.

'I couldn't imagine anything worse,' Freya said quietly. 'Losing everything you are.'

'No,' the Doctor replied tensely. 'Which is why we're leaving. We'll keep moving. Every time they move, we move. They'll never be able to catch us. We'll just keep on running.'

'Leaving?' Freya said anxiously. She took a step backwards, glancing over her shoulder again. 'Wait – I can't just leave.'

'Why not?' the Doctor asked. 'Of course you can!'

'Look, I don't think you really understand…but I can't. I can't come with you. I'll be safe here. I won't use my gift anymore. I'll hide it. It's only the power surges that draws attention to me right? So if I don't heal anything, they won't be able to find me, will they?'

'Are you going to be able to do that with him hitting you all the time?' the Doctor said. Freya blanched, taken by surprise. She hadn't expected the words to come out of his mouth, hadn't expected the hard, unfeeling tone he'd used either as though it was her fault. That she'd been allowing this to happen.

'You're terrified of him,' the Doctor went on. 'That's why you won't leave. Your fear is keeping you here.'

'He loves me,' Freya said, fighting to keep her lip from trembling.

'If you believe that then you're a fool,' the Doctor told her harshly.

Freya took a few overcompensating breaths, fury building in the base of her chest, threatening to tear its way out.

'Get out,' she whispered. 'You don't know what you're talking about.'

**September**

The Doctor stood in the doorway, his face hard, his eyes staring at her across the room. Freya turned her back quickly, gathering some bottles from the side and starting to place them into a plastic bag. The Doctor allowed her to do this in silence for a few moments; she could feel his gaze on her back, boring into her, demanding to know what happened but allowing her the time to say it herself. Her hands trembled as she moved a wine bottle of the countertop and it slipped to the floor, smashing into small pieces which scattered across the wooden floor. The pressure behind her eyes seemed to build all of a sudden. The shame of the Doctor walking in on the aftermath of Damien's anger, the pain of finding herself in this situation after he'd promised never to lay a hand on her again, was too much for her to cope with. The tears sliding down her face betrayed her desire not to show weakness, to not allow Damien to get to her in this way anymore. She pressed a trembling hand up to her mouth as her breaths began to catch in her throat. The Doctor was beside her in an instant, his hands on her arms, gently turning her around to face him. Freya kept her head dipped, still unable to meet his eyes.

'Where is he?' the Doctor said quietly. She could hear the rage in his voice, she could feel the tremble in his own hands as he fought to keep it under control.

'Out,' she said hoarsely. 'He won't come back tonight.'

'You're still not going to come with me, are you?' he said. 'Even now?'

Freya shook her head, tears still falling. She swiped at them angrily, wincing as the palm of her hand brushed against the skin of her bruised eye.  
'If I heal this,' she said, gesturing to it, 'I'll give myself away, won't I?'

The Doctor gave a nod. 'You can't risk alerting them. I think you've got quite enough to deal with here.' He gave a quick, pained smile. 'Let's get this cleaned up.'  
'The kitchen or this,' Freya asked, pointing to her face.

'Both.'

Freya looked at him curiously. 'Haven't you got other places you should be?'

'I have a time machine,' the Doctor reminded her. 'I could leave here next Tuesday and still arrive at my next destination on time.'

'We need to think of a way to keep you hidden and still allow you to heal yourself,' the Doctor told her once they'd finished clearing up the mess in the kitchen. They were sat in the living room, Freya perched on the sofa and the Doctor beside her, using his sonic screwdriver to access the damage to her face.

'Can you do that?' Freya asked hopefully.

'I think so,' the Doctor said. 'But you have to promise only to heal yourself. If you go around using your gift on others then the perception filter I'm going to make you won't work. It's only for you, do you understand?'

'Perception filter?'

'Do you understand?' the Doctor said again, firmer this time.

Freya nodded gently. 'Yes. I understand.'

**November**

'Do you know how difficult it is to hide a human on planet Earth?' The Doctor yelled furiously. 'You'd think it would be easy seeing as there are so many of you. You'd think a small little human like you would just sink into the cracks somewhere, go along with her life unnoticed.' He slammed his sonic screwdriver open so hard it gave a pitiful whine. 'It is extremely difficult to hide someone who keeps drawing attention to themselves! The first time, the first time I thought 'Never mind she's only human, she's bound to make mistakes! It was only a child, nobody will pay attention to that, kids heal quickly. They fall off a roof they'll just bounce straight back up, trust me, I know!' The second time with the old woman? Maybe the doctors would assume she was a medical marvel- '

'She was my neighbour!' Freya interrupted loudly. 'I couldn't just let her die.'

'She had cancer, Freya, she was already on the list of people to tip off into no mans land! The third time – that was pushing it. An entire coach load of Chinese tourists? I still don't know how we got away with that one. But healing him?' the Doctor trailed off, exasperated. 'Of all people.' He shook his head a few times, turning in an indecisive circle before scanning her with the sonic screwdriver. 'I'm getting really tired of doing this,' he told her, flicking open the device to clarify the results. 'You need to heal your wrist.'

Freya looked up at him surprised. 'I didn't think you'd want me to.'

'You're healing yourself,' the Doctor said, running a hand over his face. 'With the perception filter on they won't be able to pick up any power surges. I managed to send them off on a wild goose chase to Sweden for now.' He gave her a nod. 'Heal it.'

Taking a few deep breaths in, Freya allowed her eyes to fall closed. She held her damaged wrist with her good hand and tensed her entire body. After a few moments of nothing, a dull orange glow began to emit from the palm of her hand. It encased her wrist, smothering it with light as it worked, healing the damage that had been inflicted beneath the skin. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the light vanished, seeping back into the palm of her hand. Freya opened her eyes and gave both her hands a quick shake. The Doctor was watching her curiously.

'That's it,' he said firmly. 'That's the last time you use that interesting little gift of yours unless it's an absolute emergency. Do you understand?'  
Freya gave a quick nod but this didn't seem to pacify the Doctor.

'I mean it,' he growled. 'I can't keep sending them off to different places on Earth – one day they will find you and I won't be able to get here in time.'

**January**

'I'm trying to protect you Freya but you are making it impossible for me!'

'I never asked you to!' Freya yelled. 'I can look after myself just fine.'

'Oh you'd rather do this by yourself, would you?' the Doctor growled. 'That's fine by me. Next time you heal someone other than yourself or you take that perception filter off then you are condemning yourself to death, do you understand that?'

'Why do you care? What's in it for you, hanging around here all the time? What do you want from me!'

'Oh don't flatter yourself,' the Doctor said, rolling his eyes. 'If they get hold of you there will be disastrous consequences for everyone! I'm not trying to protect you, Freya, I'm trying to protect the entire universe. And I can't do that with you healing your abusive boyfriend every two minutes because he's gotten in another fight down the pub. There are bigger things at stake here. If they get hold of you, they will use your power to destroy everything…everyone. It's my duty to stop that. I'm the man that stops the bad guys. That's why I care. That's what's in it for me.'

**February**

She stared up at the ceiling until the patterns in the paintwork swirled together into a mass of stony white. She could hear Damien upstairs, prowling around the bedroom, throwing things occasionally; she wondered how many of her possessions he'd broken and how long it would take her to clean up once he'd finished venting his anger. She took a shaky breath, waiting for the squeak of the staircase when he came downstairs for her; her entire body was tense, waiting for the inevitable. A half empty vodka bottle sat to her left, next to a discarded stack of sports magazines. The lid was off, the bottom of the bottle had left a white rim on the brown coffee table and beside that was a container full of Damien's anti-depressant tablets. He'd stopped taking them a while back but the container often turned up in unexpected places, often as though it was willing her to do something with them. She picked up the container carefully, her hands unusually stable. Her body had made up its mind before she really had any idea of what she was doing. In a moment of wild desperation, she tipped the contents of the container into her mouth. She grabbed the vodka bottle and gulped quickly, swallowing the tablets and drinking as much of the alcohol as she could manage before she was sick. Her throat burned, her stomach roiled furiously, threatening to undo the act she'd just committed but she kept focused. This was for the best. He couldn't touch her this way. She raised the bottle again, desperate to block out what was going to happen to her body. She didn't want to be aware of the process; she just wanted to sleep. When the vodka had run out and her head began to swim, she closed her eyes, pulling herself off the sofa to the floor where she curled up into a ball. She unscrewed Damien's ring from her finger slowly, wondering what would take her first – the murderous alien race or the abundance of tablets she'd just knocked back. She shook her head against the carpet. She didn't want to think about that. Time passed and Freya lay calmly, the ring – her perception filter - balled up in her fist and she waited for whatever it was that would claim her.

It was maybe twenty minutes later when the TARDIS appeared in the living room, sending papers and the ornaments on the mantelpiece flying across the room in various states of distress. The Doctor wrenched the doors open, his face furious but underneath his chest battled with an array of emotions. Things must have been bad for Freya to take the ring off. That was their main agreement – it was never to come off. He could fix the damage her absurd obsession with healing people and animals had caused, but once the ring was off there was no hiding her. The fleet on the edge of the universe would be able to lock onto her and they'd be here within minutes...if they were lucky. He stopped on the threshold, his stomach dropped at the sight in front of him. Freya, curled up on the floor, unnervingly still. She looked tiny, vulnerable. He raced over to her, taking one of her hands in his, his fingers checking desperately for a pulse. He caught it fluttering gently on the back of her wrist and blew out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding.

'Freya,' he called gently, pushing the hair back from her face. Her face was ashen, her hair stuck to her sweaty skin in limp, lifeless patches. He looked around, glancing over the empty vodka bottles that littered the room until his eyes fell on an open container of prescription tablets beside her hand. Half the container was empty; a few pills had spilled out onto the floor but the rest were nowhere in sight. The Doctor flipped open the sonic screwdriver and scanned Freya quickly. The reading confirmed what he already knew and he cursed quietly, running his free hand through his hair. He sat back on his haunches for a few moments, running over his list of options. He shrugged out of his hoody and wrapped it carefully around her before bending down and placing one arm carefully under her knees, the other supporting her back, and hoisted her into his arms. She was lighter than he'd anticipated and he staggered backwards slightly, surprised. He raced back into the TARDIS, laying her gently in the control room. He searched frantically through his collection of odd medical supplies, hoping there was something he'd collected that would be of use. Eventually he found what he was looking for – a patch. He'd never usually condone using these damn things, but this was an emergency after all. The patches could cause all types of problems but right now, he didn't have any other option. He placed the recovery patch gently on the side of her neck and watched as it seeped beneath her skin, securing itself. He stood up, raking his hands through his hair, unsure what to do next. He watched the slow rise and fall of Freya's chest for a moment. It was the only thing proving she was still alive; he'd never seen someone so still before, so pale.

'FREYA?'  
The Doctor whirled on the spot. Damien. He was in the house.

'FREYA. Where the hell are you?'

He looked down at her one last time before walking out of the TARDIS, closing the door firmly behind him. He met Damien in the hallway. He was drunk, reeking of alcohol and his eyes were red and bloodshot, his hands covered in blood.

'You again,' Damien growled. 'Don't you ever get the hint! I thought the black eye I gave you last time you turned up unannounced would have been enough. What the hell are you doing in my house? Where's Freya?'

The mention of her name was like a knife to the stomach. The Doctor marched forward and, without warning, grabbed Damien by the throat, shoving him up against the staircase. His breath was ragged, his fingers painfully close to squeezing the life out of the man.

'Are you going to kill me?' Damien snarled, pushing against the Doctor's grip. 'Go on then, get on with it.'

The Doctor glared back at him, his hand solid and secure around his neck, his eyes blazing into Damien's dark, empty ones. He wanted to. And in that moment he probably could have. But he thought of Freya lying in the TARDIS and a sense of calm washed over him.

'I'm not going to kill you,' the Doctor said, his voice eerily quiet. 'But only because she wouldn't want me to. If it were on my terms, you'd be floating off into the cosmos right about now.' His voice was quiet but power radiated from every particle in his body, swarming around the room like electricity. 'This ends today. I should have done this a long time ago. Let's see how well you get along without anyone to bully or hit when you don't get your own way.' The Doctor pushed him hard against the staircase and then let go. Damien slipped to the floor, his hands racing to this throat.

'You can't just take her away!' Damien cried breathlessly, outraged. 'She's my fiancée! She belongs here with me!'

'She does not belong anywhere near you,' the Doctor said. He turned his back and headed back into the living room where the TARDIS was waiting. Before Damien was even up on his feet, the Doctor had closed the doors, leaving him on the outside, battering his fists wildly against the wooden exterior. He turned towards the console, finding Freya stood beside it, weak and pale but thankfully alive. Her eyes were large, frightened, but her hand was firm on the console, anchoring herself to it.

'He can't get in,' the Doctor told her.

He moved quickly around the console, fiddling with dials and switches, pushing buttons and swinging the visual screen around to face him. Damien's enraged face appeared, snarling and screaming as he fought desperately to get inside. The Doctor scrambled the image quickly using his sonic screwdriver. He reached over gestured to the lever that Freya was clinging on to. She moved her hand quickly, moving back to lean up against the railing instead. The Doctor pulled the lever and the TARDIS burst into life, moaning mechanically, wheezing as it began to shift through time and space. The center column revolved; lights flashed rhythmically around the edge of the room. Freya watched them curiously for a few moments before screwing her face up and giving her head a firm shake. The Doctor, leant back against the railings on the opposite side of the room, was looking at her with an unreadable expression.

'Sorry,' Freya said quickly. 'I feel a bit weird.'

'Well, yes, naturally,' the Doctor said. 'That's what happens when you consume a lethal mix of alcohol and prescription tablets.' Freya stared back at him, completely at a loss for what to say. How could she explain herself – she didn't know where to start. 'I gave you something to counteract what you'd taken,' he told her. 'You'll be fine in a few hours.'

'Thank you,' she said quietly, her hand moving unconsciously to the side of her neck where the patch had dissolved.

'What were you thinking? You could have died.'

'What you said… ,' Freya started quietly. 'If my gift is taken from me then I will lose everything I am. Well, I think I already have.' She couldn't quite meet the Doctor's eye so she stared at her hands instead, twisting them into knots as she spoke. 'I got tired of fighting to get it back. So this evening, I decided I was going to take it back. I missed being me. But then I realised that I hadn't been me for such a long time… I don't really know who that is anymore. And if I can't be me, then what's the point of being at all.' She finished with a shrug, finally finding the confidence to look up. There were a few moments of silence as the Doctor mulled over her words.

'Are you okay?' he asked eventually.

'Not really,' Freya said. 'Can I go home? Or to my friends at least?'

'Can't,' the Doctor told her easily. 'You took your perception filter off.'

Freya stood up a little straighter. 'I didn't expect to wake up.'

'Well as a result, that rather dangerous fleet of spaceships discovered where you were hiding so I had no choice but to bring you to the TARDIS.' He looked at her, his expression still completely impossible to read. Freya had no idea if he was furious with her, pleased that she was alive, willing to help or whether he just wanted to get rid of her completely. 'There's no going back now. I'd be surprised if your house is still standing.'

'So…so that's it?' Freya said. 'Just like that? The hiding is over?'

'You can't hide forever. No-one can.'

'So what do we do?'

'Now we run,' the Doctor said, grinning. 'And the good thing about running is that you never have to stop.'


End file.
